The Next Step
by Falneou17
Summary: After graduating high school, a certain redhead thought that she was ready for the challenges that she would have to face, but finds herself overwhelmed. As she easily loses track of time, how will everybody's favorite idol respond? Contains Nicomaki.


**The second oneshot of the Saten Ruiko Day Countdown/ LightZephyr Appreciation Week! Today's chapter will focus on the pairing of Yazawa Nico and Nishikino Maki!**

 **Special thanks to Namitaa776 for helping out!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live!, nor do I, in any way, shape or form intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

Maki sighed.

It wasn't like she particularly _hated_ these things, but she didn't really understand why she still had to be present even after all those years, either.

"It's not like I'm a child anymore…" Maki muttered under her breath as her gaze was fixated on her plate.

"What did you say?" the gentle voice came from Maki's right. The redhead jolted in surprise, not having expected to be heard. The white-haired woman beside her looked at Maki with a worried look on her face, and Maki didn't even realize that she was being watched until she heard the other woman's voice.

"Nothing of importance, really," Maki responded quietly, loud enough for her neighbor to hear her but not loud enough for the two other people to hear her.

Once again, and not for the first time that night, Maki wondered why she still had to sit there and eat dinner with a business partner of her father. Despite not following in his footsteps, Maki knew how big of an influence her father had on the medical world.

And while Maki may not like the man who called himself her father's business partner, Maki also knew how reliant the Nishikino hospital was on their company. At the very least, Maki had grown quite close to the white-haired heiress despite being several years older than her.

"We must really be on our way now."

The voice shook Maki back to her senses, and she looked up in time to see the balding man stand up from his seat and motioning to his daughter, "Let's go."

"Right," the white-haired heiress nodded before turning to Maki quickly, "It was nice seeing you again."

"Likewise." Maki smiled, but still felt a familiar tugging feeling in her heart as she watched the two walk away, their family's emblem of a twelve-pointed snowflake embroidered on the back of their coats being the last thing she saw.

She hated it. She hated the feeling as if everybody was leaving her, and a sudden wave of fear flooded her being.

Maki jolted when a hand was placed on her shoulder. Turning her head, the redhead let out a sigh of relief as her eyes landed on her father's, "Yes, Papa?"

"We are done here." The man responded in a flat voice, uncaring how his reply may have come over. Upon hearing the response, Maki blinked and looked around, only then realizing that they were, indeed, the last people left.

"R-Right." Maki mumbled as she stood up and put her coat on, relishing the familiar warmth that she came to associate with it.

Maki's father was already ready to leave, and he wasted no time to walk away when he saw that his daughter was done.

When Maki finally caught up to her father outside the restaurant, she was temporarily blinded by the harsh sunlight, not realizing just how long they had been inside. The half-frozen roads were not very helpful in keeping her vision.

"Maki?"

Hearing her name, the redhead looked up to see her father standing in front of the open door of the limousine, obviously waiting for her.

"Sorry Papa," Maki said hurriedly as she gave him a quick hug, "I will visit this weekend, I promise."

"Be careful." The sentence was short, but Maki could understand the love and affection that her father held for her in that one sentence alone.

Smiling, the redhead took a few steps back and watched her father's limousine drive off into the distance. Only when she couldn't see the backlights anymore did Maki turn around and head off to her own destination.

* * *

"And that's how I got my A!" the brunette announced as she jumped a few steps ahead, twirling on her heels while laughing cheerfully. Maki found herself laughing along as the younger girl's happiness was contagious.

With Cocoa's school behind them, Maki had to speed up to keep up with the young Yazawa. By now, the sun was already starting to set to their right, and Maki couldn't help but wonder why the young girl wasn't shivering in the late afternoon air.

'Probably thanks to all that running…' Maki thought with a content smile while wrapping the scarf around her neck tighter. At this point, Cocoa had finished her nineteenth lap around the redhead.

"Cocoa, slow down, we don't want you to run into things." Maki tried, taking a wild grasp at the girl but barely missing her.

"Aw…" Cocoa pouted as she slowed down to a stop, surprising the redhead by her sudden compliance. Even so, Maki took it, and placed her hand in between the shorter girl's shoulder blades to guide them back home.

The silence that followed was one that Maki relished, but ended far too quickly in her opinion.

"Can we go to the arcade?"

Maki almost tripped as she heard the question, fortunately able to quickly regain her footing, only to find herself staring into red eyes. Red eyes that were far too familiar to the redhead.

She knew what that flicker of light in those ruby-colored orbs meant. And she knew that Cocoa had asked her an earnest question. Taking a deep breath, the former composer of _m_ 's answered the question she wished she didn't have to.

"You know the rules, Cocoa, tomorrow is a school day," Maki said matter-of-factly, and Cocoa almost instantly deflated. Upon seeing this, and the younger Yazawa's almost perfect imitation of the eldest Yazawa's hurt look, Maki added, "We can go in the weekend."

"All right!" Cocoa cheered as she fist-pumped the air, unknowingly causing a smile to form on Maki's face.

As Cocoa went on a tangent to list out which games she would play first and re-arranging the order multiple times, Maki unconsciously zoned out. Seeing Cocoa so excited really brought back memories for the redhead, and those red eyes and twin tails weren't really helpful in keeping her emotions at bay either.

"We're here!"

The announcement brought Maki back to the present and, much to her surprise, she found herself in front of a familiar door. Somehow, the two of them managed to reach the apartment while one was chattering away and the other was unfocused without getting lost again.

"Alright, Cocoa, I need to do some things, can you start on your homework? If you need any help just call," Maki said as the two of them entered, Cocoa having already disappeared into the next room after a quick confirmative shout before Maki had even had the chance to start removing her shoes.

Chuckling lightly at the sight, Maki turned to head for her room for a change of clothes as she didn't have any time yet to do so before picking up the ball of energy. Heading straight for the wardrobe in the corner, the redhead couldn't help but allow her eyes to land on the framed picture by the bed.

Before she knew it, Maki was already seated on the bed with the picture in her lap. Depicted was a barely visible but still noticeably younger Maki alongside the rest of _m_ 's, all of them laughing despite the sadness hidden behind everybody's eyes.

The image was taken on the graduation day of the third years. More importantly, it was the last day that Maki saw—

"What are you doing?"

Maki's thoughts were interrupted when the familiar voice asked her the question, but she remained unmoving. Without looking up from the image in her hands, the redhead answered, "Just looking at an old picture."

"A stroll down memory lane?"

Maki nodded in response, almost waiting for the voice to continue talking. She never got that question that she was anticipating.

Instead, the redhead let out a soft gasp when familiar arms snaked themselves around her midsection, trapping her in place. Twisting around, Maki let out a louder gasp when she realized _who_ was holding her.

"I'm home!" the black haired woman grinned, letting Maki go to allow her to fully turn around. The newcomer's hair was disheveled, her ponytail was askew, and her breathing slightly irregular. Maki knew that she must have worked hard to get back quickly.

"Nico!" Maki exclaimed, dropping the framed picture that she was previously holding on the ground. Fortunately, the glass cover didn't break, but the redhead didn't seem to care even if it had, "When did you—?!"

"Is that really all I get for all my effort to get home early?" Nico interrupted with a playful frown, successfully catching her junior off-guard. Laughing slightly at the sight of Maki's face, she added, "About two minutes before you and Cocoa did. Thanks for taking care of my siblings while I was gone, by the way."

"You give me too much credit, they are all well-mannered and know where the limits are," Maki responded, making a conscious effort to keep her hands still and her gaze constant. Despite the years that have passed, some habits didn't die very quickly, and Maki knew that Nico knew that, "Cocoro also took care of Cotaro most of the time, so it was effectively just Cocoa for me."

"That means that you got closer with that little rascal while I was away, doesn't it?" Nico smiled cheerfully. Maki was about to point out how unfair that statement was, when—

"Onee-chan! That's unfair!"

Moving their heads towards the door in perfect synchronization, Nico and Maki found an angry Cocoa standing with her hands on her hips, "What do you mean 'that little rascal'? I'm not _that_ bad!"

"Yeah yeah, I get it I get it," Nico waved her sister's sentences off nonchalantly, only succeeding in angering her even more.

"Maki-oneechan, tell her! You know I got an A today!" Cocoa turned to Maki for support, who looked more taken aback by the fact that she was being relied upon for support than anything else.

"Alright, we'll do something special to celebrate tomorrow," Nico promised before Maki could utter another word, "But for now, could you please leave us alone? Today is—"

"Right!" Cocoa exclaimed in shock, catching Maki by surprise and eliciting a groan from her older sister, "Happy Birthday, Maki-oneechan!"

"It's not her birthday…" Nico muttered through gritted teeth as Cocoa looked at her curiously, "Today is our anniversary, not Maki-chan's birthday."

"Anni…versary…?" Maki repeated slowly and carefully with a frown. It was only then that she realized what day it was, "Wait, don't tell me—!"

"You seriously forgot what day it is?" Nico retorted angrily, turning away from her sister and towards her girlfriend. Maki, in turn, remained quiet as she didn't know how to respond to the accusation.

This, however, only proved to further rile the universe's number one idol.

Taking a deep breath, Nico kept her voice levelled before turning to her sibling, "Can you please leave us alone for a while?"

Knowing better than to disobey, Cocoa nodded silently as she stepped out of the room. Now sure that they were alone, Nico turned back to an uneasy Maki.

"Nico, I'm sorry! Work's been busy and papa wanted me to be at his daily meetings as well and Cocoa can be a handful and—" Maki rambled on before she felt a head resting softly on her right shoulder, "Nico?"

"It's okay, Maki, I forgive you."

"You… forgive me…?" Maki echoed, and felt Nico's chin put more pressure on her skin. The redhead sighed, moving her head into the source of her comfort when her eyes landed on the calendar, "Yazawa Nico."

"Yes?"

"It's not until next week Friday that it is our anniversary…" Maki deadpanned as she eyed the circled date in front of her, "What were you doing saying that it is today?"

"About time you realized~" Nico replied in a sing-song voice as she stood back up and twirled on her heel with a smile. When she saw the redhead glaring at her, the raven haired girl sat down beside her on the bed, "It's just that I've been thinking lately… about me—you— _us_ , and what I am to you."

"You're—" Maki tried, but was stopped when Nico placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

"I know, and I'm sorry for having tricked you like that," Nico said with a genuine smile, but Maki had known her long enough to see through the act. She saw something that the redhead was certain nobody else would be able to see, "I just wanted to make sure."

Nico twisted her body so that she was facing Maki, and as red orbs met amethyst ones the two tuned out everything in their surroundings. Right then and there, the only thing that mattered was having the other person right there with them.

Nico was the first to make a move. Slow enough for it to have been overlooked, she moved closer to the redhead as her eyelids fluttered close.

Seeing this, Maki responded in kind, closing her eyes immediately and waited…

And waited…

After thirty seconds had passed and still nothing had happened, Maki opened her eyes with a retort in mind. The only problem was that Nico was no longer sitting beside her on the bed.

Nico was kneeling in front of Maki, her hands held clumsily in front of her.

Maki would never forgive herself for taking so long to realize what Nico had been planning for her on that day. She didn't even need to hear Nico's words to know what she was saying.

She knew.

* * *

"Did you get it?"

"Shh! You'll wake them up!"

"Well hurry up then!"

"I'm trying I'm trying!"

"Phoootoooo…"

"Cotaro! Shh!"

A flash of light.

"There!"

Cocoa quickly but quietly retreated out of the room with the device held tightly in her hands as Cocoro closed the door behind her. As soon as the familiar click of the door was heard, all three siblings huddled together.

"Alright, let's see what we got!" Cocoa grinned, pressing the buttons on the camera with confidence before the little display flashed a bright flash of light, temporarily blinding the three youngsters.

When the three of them finally regained their sight back, they all smiled at the image displayed on the screen of the camera.

The screen displayed a contently smiling Nico holding an equally content-looking Maki in her arms. Both were sound asleep and snuggled nicely under the blankets together.

It was Cocoro who noticed the shiny new object on Maki's finger first, certain that she had never seen it there before.

* * *

 **And that wraps up this oneshot! I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for tomorrow's oneshot on a different franchise!**


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